Marijuana - Overview
Overview
The earliest archeological evidence of marijuana comes from China. Twelve thousand years ago the plant was cultivated there for many uses. Its fibers, known as hempCannabis plant matter used to make fibers., could be woven into
sturdy clothing or rope, or even processed as paper. The Chinese also used the plant as a medicine for anxiety and physical pain. From China the use of the plant spread to India, where by 2000 BCE it had become part of religious ceremonies. The Vedas, a series of Indian religious writings, credits the god Shiva with introducing cannabis to humankind, to help relieve the soul from suffering. To this day, a mild marijuana preparation called bhang is used during holidays in India, just like Americans might toast in the New Year with champagne.
An Ancient History
In his book Illegal Drugs: A Complete Guide to Their History, Chemistry, Use and Abuse, Paul M. Gahlinger noted that Europeans had discovered and were using cannabis by the fifth century BCE. By the time Venetian traveler Marco Polo (c. 1254–1324) made his famous expedition to the Far East in the late thirteenth century, the drug was widespread throughout the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Different cultures used it in varied ways even then. Marco Polo records the legend of the "Old Man of the Mountain," a Muslim Middle Easterner said to have recruited assassins by intoxicating them with hashishConcentrated, solidified cannabis resin., which is the solidified form of the drug. (The very word "assassin" is said to have roots in "hashish," but the story Marco Polo reports has never been verified.) In Europe as early as the Middle Ages (c. 500–c. 1500), hemp was planted for use as clothing and rope, and cannabis was used as medicine for illnesses as varied as menstrual cramps, labor pains, and headaches. Its recreational uses were understood as well, and in 1484 Pope Innocent VIII (1432–1492) said that hashish consumption was linked to Satanic rituals.
Grown on Plantations
As cannabis fell out of favor as a recreational drug, it grew in importance as a plant fiber. The era of exploring the world by sailing ship had dawned, and demand for canvas—another word derived from cannabis—grew rapidly. In 1533, King Henry VIII (1491–1547) commanded all English farmers to set aside part of their holdings to grow hemp. The plant was exported to the Americas, where it was first grown in Canada in 1606 and in Virginia in 1611. In the United States, it was used for making canvas and rope. However, written documents note that George Washington (1732–1799), the first U.S. president, not only grew cannabis but also used it to soothe his toothaches. According to the 1850 U.S. Census, the plant was grown on 8,327 plantations in the nation.
The renewed interest in recreational use of cannabis dates to the 1840s, when Egyptian hashish spread among the artistic communities in France and England as a drug of enlightenment (enhanced intelligence). At the same time, the medical community in Europe renewed its interest in the substance, recommending it for a wide variety of ailments from asthma and depression to epilepsyA disorder involving the misfiring of electrical impulses in the brain, sometimes resulting in seizures and loss of consciousness.. Cannabis was also recommended to the mentally ill and to alcoholics and people with opium addiction. In the heyday of "cure-all" medicines during the early 1900s, marijuana extracts could be found in many over-the-counter remedies, sometimes mixed with opiates like morphine. (An entry for morphine is available in this encyclopedia.)
The Tide Turns
In time, the tide of American opinion turned against marijuana. Some historians credit business tycoon William Randolph Hearst (1863–1951) with launching this crusade. Hearst, who owned many major newspapers, also owned many thousands of acres of trees that he planned to turn into paper. As late as the 1880s, almost all American paper was made from hemp, and a great deal of hemp was still grown in the United States. (The U.S. Declaration of Independence was published on hemp paper.) Hearst capitalized on anti-Mexican prejudice and, through his newspapers, linked marijuana use to Mexican immigrants, crime, violent behavior, and poor job performance. It was the Hearst newspaper chain that changed the spelling of marijuana from its older form, marihuana. During this time, use of the word cannabis faded as well.
According to Hugh Downs, in a commentary for ABC News in 1990: "Nobody was afraid of hemp—it had been cultivated and processed into usable goods, and consumed as medicine, and burned in oil lamps, for hundreds of years. But after a campaign to discredit hemp in the Hearst newspapers, Americans became afraid of something called marijuana." Downs also noted that the crusade against hemp "misled the public into thinking that marijuana and hemp were different plants."
Hearst's campaign was one of many waged against marijuana in the 1930s. Another important figure who changed American attitudes toward the drug was Harry Anslinger (1892–1975), head of the Commission of Narcotics during the Great Depression (1929–1941). Bolstered by scientific studies published in credible journals, Anslinger was able to convince state governments that marijuana use caused an increase in crime and violence, that it was addictive, and that its attraction to young people could lead to a lifetime of trouble. Hollywood seemed to support this view, issuing a series of hour-long dramas about marijuana, of which Reefer Madness (1936) is the best known. In Reefer Madness and other similar films, young, innocent people become violent, dishonest—or at least rather hysterical—victims of the "devil weed."
Following a series of congressional hearings, the U.S. government passed the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. The act did not outlaw marijuana outright, but "created a tax structure around the cultivation, distribution, sale, and purchase of cannabis products, which made it virtually impossible to have anything to do with the drug without breaking some part of the tax law," wrote Cynthia Kuhn and her coauthors in Buzzed: The Straight Facts about the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy. In other words, the 1937 law made it impossible to reap a legal profit from growing cannabis.
Illegal Experimentation
After World War II (1939–1945), a new generation of young people began to frequent urban jazz clubs, where the musicians often used marijuana and other drugs. Interest in recreational marijuana increased. As the teenagers of the 1960s and 1970s began using the drug in record numbers, they showed that many of the "scientific" claims made against marijuana in the 1930s were untrue. Marijuana, it appeared, did not cause violence or hysterical behavior. It was not particularly addictive, and it appeared to have few lasting effects on the user in the days and weeks following a dose. This finding led various people to mistakenly doubt all information they had received about illegal drugs, based on their own experiences with marijuana. This created a climate of illegal drug experimentation that has lasted into the twenty-first century.
Such experimentation led to drugs flooding the black marketThe illegal sale or trade of goods; drug dealers are said to carry out their business on the 'black market.' and being sold illegally on the street.
Federal Government Labels Marijuana a Hazard
In 1970, the U.S. Controlled Substances Act named marijuana and its by-products, hashish and hash oil, as Schedule I controlled substances. This is the highest level of control, indicating a substance with a high probability of abuse and no medical benefit. Even in 1970 some members of the medical and scientific community felt that marijuana should not have been placed in the same category as drugs such as LSD and heroin. (Separate entries on LSD and heroin are available in this encyclopedia.)
By the end of the twentieth century, several medical uses for cannabis had been documented with full research evidence. These include being an appetite-enhancer in cancer and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)An infectious disease that destroys the body's immune system, leading to illness and death. patients; a pain reliever in glaucomaAn eye disease that causes increased pressure within the eyeball and can lead to blindness. patients; and a muscle relaxant for those suffering from multiple sclerosisA progressive illness that affects muscle tissue, leading to pain and inability to control body movements., a degenerative disease of the central nervous system.
Chemists developed a synthetic (laboratory-made) tablet, dronabinol (manufactured as Marinol), that contains one of the chemicals found in marijuana. Dronabinol was introduced in 1985 as a Schedule II substance and has since been placed in the Schedule III category, making it as easy to prescribe as codeine. (An entry on codeine is available in this encyclopedia.) Still, some patients found that the dronabinol pills did not work as well as smoking cannabis.
Gonzalez v. Raich
By 2005, ten states had passed "medicinal marijuana" bills, allowing people with certain illnesses to grow or obtain enough marijuana for their own use. But these state laws for medical marijuana conflict with the federal laws against its possession. Late in 2004, two California women brought their petition for medical marijuana to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court case that concerned state laws on medical marijuana use, called Gonzalez v. Raich, was decided on June 6, 2005. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that Congress has the authority to prohibit the local cultivation of marijuana, even if it is used for medical marijuana, under federal interstate commerce laws. Under federal law, people in states that permit medical marijuana use will not be able to buy the plant form of marijuana or to grow it for their own consumption legally.
After the ruling on June 6, Oregon stopped issuing medical marijuana cards, given to patients with a doctor's prescription through the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. However, the state continued to process applications. On June 17, 2005, Oregon's attorney general, Hardy Myers, stated that the program would begin issuing the medical marijuana cards again because the Supreme Court ruling did not affect the state's program. Myers did make it clear that though people using medical marijuana through Oregon's program will not be violating state laws, users could still be arrested and prosecuted by the federal government. In addition, Myers said that the state cannot protect patients' caregivers and those growing medical marijuana plants should the federal government decide to prosecute them.
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